#phantom30

[anniekayart]

I can't believe Phantom opened 30 years ago! And still going strong 💪 Speaking of strong, I just had to do a quick painting of the lovely Sarah Brightman in her role as Christine, our heroine who saves the day with the intense strength of her compassion.

[daaehardphan]

[phantomoftheopera101]

[miniatureoftheopera]

Cameron didn’t remember to hide the false head. The question is why did they use it in the first place??

[such-a-fellow]

I saw Phantom on tour a few days ago and I'm gonna ramble about it because it was amazing:

-I feel like I should preface this by saying that I very rarely get to see any plays or musicals (even at local theatres) because I live in the middle of nowhere and my schedule is a constant disaster. This was the first touring production I've seen and I am Shook™.

-My mom and I vowed to go to either this or Les Mis a few months ago and ended up choosing this

(Also our timing was great; it was two days after the Broadway 30th anniversary!)

-This isn't much of a review, mostly just an incomprehensible mess of my thoughts on the show. I wrote it out several days ago and then left it in my drafts to rot, so uhhh yeah.

I'd put it under a cut but I'm on mobile and can't do that, so sorry in advance.

~Anyway~

-Wowowowow the orchestra was amazing

-the ensemble was perfection. Everyone sounded amazing at all times.

-The dancing!!!!! Was so great!!!!!!

-Actually just the entire cast is just beyond talented honestly wOW

-Quentin Oliver Lee was a great Phantom. I wasn't sure about him at first but as the show moved along he really grew on me. The new staging makes Erik much more physically violent and almost rapey with Christine in the Final Lair scene, but somehow this guy still managed to make him sympathetic in the end. I'd love to see him as the Phantom with the normal Broadway staging because he plays the tragic angle very well. I do think that a more villainous and unhinged version of Erik works best with the new changes and would've loved to see that, but still, props to him for managing to pull off the tragedy anyway. His voice is amazing.

-Eva Taveres' understudy Emma Grimsley was on and I'm so glad she was because she's AMAZING. Probably one of my favorite Christines I've ever seen/heard. She has the voice of a literal angel. Like wow. And her acting as Christine was so unique and great??? She brought a sort of desperation and fire to the character that you don't see too often. She never made Christine look stupid or like a victim dragged along by everything around her, but she also seemed realistically bewildered and scared at the right times and just ugh I loved it. Her Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again made me cry so much wow.

-I loved Jordan Craig's voice but I'm afraid his Raoul was a bit on the cold and bland side. Not that that's necessarily his fault; Raoul's role in the show IS written pretty blandly and whether he comes off as boring or uncaring or super sweet and comforting is really down to the actor and direction of a specific production. His Raoul was kinda dismissive of Christine's distress and wasn't very comforting or helpful in the more emotionally quiet moments. You get the feeling that Christine's feelings towards him stem more from desperation and a desire for some semblance of safety from the Phantom than from actual love, which is a perfectly reasonable angle, but not my personal favorite.

-I adored all of the new sets except for the Phantom's lair which was made way less mysterious and was just...a room with a bed and an organ and a few candles. But most of the other sets are very impressive for a touring show!

-The costumes were also all great

-Except for the Phantom's Masquerade costume which was super similar to the movie one. Like why would you even. The Red Death costume is Iconique™ and should never be changed ever.

-Actually, almost every change they made to any scene involving the actual Phantom in this version somehow managed to make him either less mysterious or less sympathetic, which (for me at least) are the two best parts of his character in most versions. You get drawn in by the mystery and seemingly inhuman qualities of this dark genius, and you stay because, as his actual character is revealed, you pity him. I get that they were going for realism and wanted to switch stuff up but a lot of those changes just fell a bit flat, if that makes sense.

-especially the unmasking scene in the first act, which was probably my least favorite part of this show

-he takes the mask off himself while he thinks she's asleep and sits there angsting over his face and when she comes over and sees him he's all "dAMN YOU...CURSE YoOuu" like bruh this is entirely your fault stop

-why did they change that that's so stupid

-anyway

-I missed having that cool staircase in Masquerade and I expected to be underwhelmed by the scene when it first started but I ended up loving the new choreography. That part where Christine gets separated from Raoul and everyone's kinda dancing around her and symbolizing her fear of the Phantom reappearing was done really differently and in a way that kinda resembled the moment in Elisabeth right before 'Der Letzen Tanz' when the wedding guests dancing around Sissi are slowly replaced by the dark angels and she suddenly looks around in horror as she realizes what's happening and yeah that's kinda what happens with Christine in this scene and I really thought it was pretty rad (sorry if that made no sense I've had Elisabeth on my mind like constantly lately lol)

-I loved seeing the people sitting under the chandelier cower in their seats as it dropped ahahaha peasants

-I probably have no place laughing at them because I jumped every time there was a gunshot

-The sexual undertones in Music of the night weren't nearly as overt as they often are, but Point of No Return was even more seductive than usual. This isn't really an important point or anything, I just thought it was odd because usually the levels of sexual subtext in them stay around the same level. It's unusual to have one be amped up a bit and not the other, especially since I would argue that despite the fact that PoNR's lyrics are more obviously sexual than MoTN's, in their actual context MoTN is usually the more sensual one.

-yeah anyways I know this is a mess and I'm aware that no one cares but I loved it sososo much it was completely worth the money and the drive.

[aliceheart247]

In honour of Phantom’s 30th on Broadway, here’s a pic of me and my beloved pillow Erik enjoying the snow we had back at the beginning of the month!

[aliceheart247]

This is from Ali Ewoldt’s Instagram and I just had to share it!

[antiqone]

I'm just now watching #Phantom30 livestream footage/content and I'm actually crying it's so good we love an empire of talent from so many people we're so blessed here's to another 30 phantastic years!